Manufacture of table-knives



N0. 6H,324. Patented Sept. 27, !898.

A. JOHNSTON.

MANUFACTURE OF TABLE KNIVES.

(Application filed Apr. 1, 1898.) (N o M o d e I 17 vznesse emZor 4) aa w.

A'rnNr @rrron.

ALLEN JOHNSTON, OF OTTUMVVA, IOIVA.

MANUFACTURE OF TABLE-KNIVES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 611,324, dated September27, 1898.

Application filed April 1, 1898- ri l N 676,075. (No specimens.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ALLEN JOHNSTON, of Otturnwa, Iowa,have invented a new and useful Improvement in Processes of Manufacturing Blanks for Table-Knives, which improvement is fully set forth in the following specification.

In the manufacture of table-knives as heretofore practiced, whether the blade is provided in addition to the bolster with a handle formed of the material of the blade or with a shank for insertion into the handle or clamping between parts of the same of a material other than that of which the blade is made, a steel rod of sufficient length to form one or two knives is first shaped under a drophammer to produce upon the blanks the bolster or bolsters, by what is termed hot-forging, the metal being heated to a temperature rendering the same malleable. The blade or blades is or are then drawn out by a rolling process, which is also effected at a high temperature of the metal, by which operation the blade is shaped to its approximate form or thickness. The knives are then shaped to their ultimate form by grinding with an emery-wheel, which is sometimes preceded by a third hot-forging or compressing between dies to condense the fiber and thus improve the quality of the metal. In thus proceeding it has been found that the slag, which is incidentally formed upon the surface of the blade when being heated, is, by the rolling or forging operations, forced into the soft metal, which slag it is necessary by the after operation of grinding to remove. This removing of the slag by grindinginvolves a number of objectionable features, of which I shall menbut in spots, more or less extensive, over the surface of the blade it follows that the subsequent forging forces the particles of slag into the metal unevenly and that the removal of the slag leaves the surface of uneven teX- ture, which is of course objectionable- The object of my invention is to obviate these and other disadvantages; and it consists in a process embracing a number of successive operations, which, performed in the sequence herein set forth, constitute a new process of making table-cutlery.

In carryingout myinvention I proceed in the following manner: On the stock, short bar or rod of steel,) heated to forging heat, I form the bolster and the part of the blade contiguous to the bolster by hot-forging under a drop-hammer in the manner well-known .and practiced. While hot I then roll the blade to its approximate form and thickness. During these two operations of hot'forging and rolling the slag that is formed on the surface has been, as it were, incrusted into the metal. I now subject the blanks to an annealing process, the effect of whichis to loosen ordetach the slag from the metal. The blade thus freed from slag is then subjected to a final forging; but in order to avoid the formation of any slag this last forging or compressing into its ultimate shape before grinding is done while the metal is cold, preferablybetween special dies. The effect of the compressing cold-forging dies is that the inequalities existing in the surface of the metal of the blade owing to the dropping out of the slag during or after the annealing process have disappeared without any removal. by grinding of the metal, which could be shaped by the dies to very nearly the shape which the ultimate grinding is to produce. Hence economy in grinding and superiority of metal.

In the accompanying drawings, sh0wing are views corresponding to Figs. 1, 2, and 3, respectively, of a blank to which a separate handle is adapted to be attached instead of being formed integral with the blade, as in Figs. 1, 2, and 3.

Having thus fully described my invention,

forging, then rolling the blade While hot to 7 its approximate form and thickness then annealing the blade for removing slag therefrom, then further forging the blade While cold, and then grinding the blade, as set forth. In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

ALLEN JOHNSTON. Witnesses:

O. B. WooDWoRTH, B. W. HYDE. 

